Safety Net Patients Still Use MyChart

Epic’s MyChart helps patients access their healthcare information from their computer or phone, but some safety net hospitals hesitate to push their patients to sign up because they think their patients won’t be able to access it. When Phoenix-based Maricopa Integrated Health System (MIHS) gave it a try, however, they found it was easier than expected to get patients engaging with MyChart. In the span of 15 months, MIHS increased MyChart adoption from 9% to 45% simply by having their medical assistants take 90 seconds to sign patients up and talk them through the features after taking their vitals.

At first, MIHS seemed to have certain obstacles to getting patients enrolled. “We have a lot of different languages patients are speaking, we have socioeconomic disparities that we try to attune to,” said Dr. Anthony Dunnigan, Maricopa’s CMIO. “There were a lot of people that felt PHRs were ‘not for our patients.’”

However, according to Dunnigan, “There is rich qualitative and quantitative data showing that’s really not the case; [MyChart is] used widely and the numbers are incredible.” According to a patient engagement survey from CDW Healthcare, 95% of patients say they have experienced benefits from being able to access their personal health information online and on their phones, and 70% of those surveyed felt more knowledgeable about their medical information.

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